Letter: Good Democrats, dead Democrats

On Thursday, May 28, Donald Trump re-tweeted, “The only good Democrat is a dead Democrat.”

Ulster County Republicans, is this how you feel about your Democratic neighbors? Your parents taught you from the cradle never to speak so crassly, and so you teach your own children. I don’t believe you want us dead.

Ulster County Republicans, won’t you please now disown your party’s leader? Mr. Trump owns the violence breaking out across the nation. He is the chaos president. In the words of conservative New York Times columnist Bret Stephens, Mr. Trump inverts the message of Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address: “With malice toward all, with charity for none.” In your hearts, you know this is true.

Or listen to general James Mattis: “Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people — does not even pretend to try. Instead, he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens, to past generations that bled to defend our promise, and to our children.”

The cost is clear. We’re facing the loss of our country, its ideals and its institutions. Ulster County Republicans, put your country before your party.

Please watch the video of George Floyd’s murder. It’s shocking but not surprising. When you’re black in America, you live with the consciousness that murder at the hands of the police is possible. When marchers shout, “Black lives matter,” what they mean is, “Black lives matter, too.” Insisting on the truth of this statement is what motivates the nationwide protests. Malice is what breeds the violence.

Black lives matter. Our nation matters. Truth matters.

William Weinstein
New Paltz